


Day 17: Getting Ready for Santa ft. Pepperony

by Pippiuscattius



Series: Pippi's Holiday Shipping Challenge: Take Two [17]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxiety Attacks, Awesome Pepper Potts, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Getting Ready for Santa, God Endgame hurt me, Holiday Shipping Challenge, Kid Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), My options were either to write this or sue for emotional damages, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, this is what my heart needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21866788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippiuscattius/pseuds/Pippiuscattius
Summary: By a miracle, Tony survived the infinity gauntlet's recoil. Now, as he safely spends Christmas with his wife and daughter, he reflects on how lucky he is to be here with the people he holds dearest.(This is part of a collection of silly, rushed drabbles for me to get into the holiday spirit. Make of them what you will, and happy holidays!)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Pippi's Holiday Shipping Challenge: Take Two [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569934
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	Day 17: Getting Ready for Santa ft. Pepperony

“You know what we’ve gotta do now, right Morgan?”

“Sure do! We hafta put out the milk, and cookies, and maybe some peppermints or something—I bet Santa gets tired of the same thing over and over again—”

“Slow your roll, kiddo. If we leave out milk this early, it’ll curdle by the time Santa gets here.”

“Peppermints won’t though! I’ll go get some from the bowl.”

Tony slumped back in defeat. When all was said and done, his daughter was going to lay out a buffet of treats for Santa, no matter how much he tried to reel her in. She was stubborn; a trait she largely inherited from him, actually.

“I think ‘Santa’ might appreciate a tasteful glass of whiskey over anything else,” a fond voiced commented, sneaking up on Tony where he was perched in the armchair.

“I think Santa would appreciate that,” Tony played along, shuffling around to see Pepper’s knowing smile gazing down at him. “Don’t know if Mrs. Claus would, though.”

“As long as she got a glass, too.” Pepper crossed the room, her work shoes clacking against the hardwood. The Stark CEO tapped a few buttons on the holographic interface platform, waking up its AI.

“Friday?” Pepper called. “Put up a fireplace. Something picturesque for Christmas.”

An image sprung to life above the table, three-dimensional pixels gathering and reforming into a crackling simulation of a fire place. Pleased, Pepper stepped aside to lean against one of the thick pillars holding her home up, admiring the artificial yet realistic orange glow spreading throughout the room.

Eager little footsteps tromped out from the kitchen. Morgan carried a glass bowl of green and red peppermints, all wrapped in cellophane and crinkling loudly as they bounced in the girl’s arms.

Morgan stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the fireplace. “How is Santa supposed to get in through a hologram?”

“Santa’s magic, sweetie,” Pepper said, taking the bowl for fear it would fall and shatter under Morgan’s calloused yet clumsy young hands. “He can get into a house without a chimney, too.”

Pointing a finger to her chin, Morgan challenged, “Doesn’t that make Santa a burglar?”

“The opposite of a burglar, actually,” Tony jumped in. “He doesn’t take stuff, he _leaves_ stuff.”

Accepting that with a shrug, Morgan clambered up on the armchair beside her father. Tony shifted to make room for her, though she insisted on snuggling up under his arm. What was he going to do with this kid and her unbounding affection…?

Pepper watched the scene with warm eyes. Tony caught a hint of a frown on her beautiful features as Morgan attempted to dislodge Tony’s dead right arm. The skin was withered nearly down to the bone, blackened and twisted by the infinity gauntlet’s last big snap of energy.

Training his face so that Morgan wouldn’t catch him flinch, Tony reached his working arm over to move the dead weight out of the way. Losing the use of one arm sucked, sure, but Tony just reminded himself it was at least better than dying. Hurt like a son of a bitch most days, but better to suffer manageable chronic pain than die and leave behind a fatherless family.

He’d been thinking about getting the thing amputated for a while now. He could replace it with a prosthetic—of his own impeccable design of course—most likely modeled after the Iron Man suit. Yeah…something red or silvery with a built-in rocket, or blaster, or maybe both, and crafted from the latest nano suit technology.

Setting down the bowl of mints on the coffee table, Pepper eased towards her husband and daughter. She slung a leisurely hand over the armchair’s back, letting her hair fall just enough to tickle the side of Tony’s head.

Glancing back, Tony prompted, “Hey, Morgan? You have any other kooky ideas for food to lure Santa with? Preferably non-perishable.”

“Candy canes!” Morgan chirped, leaping off the couch and making a beeline towards the pantry. “And a whole bottle of maple syrup, and a Little Debbie cake…those don’t go bad, right…?”

Watching her daughter retreat down the hall, Pepper balanced herself atop the chair’s armrest. “Are you planning on eating everything she comes up with?”

“As long as I have someone to help me,” Tony quipped, flashing Pepper a weary yet winning smile.

“Mmm.”

In lieu of a more committal response, Pepper leaned over to capture her husband in a kiss. Once the surprise had worn off, Tony used his functional arm to pull her nearer, dragging fingers through the light hair at her back.

Even as she broke the kiss, Pepper pressed her forehead to Tony’s. “I’m…really glad to have you here for Christmas, you know.”

Swallowing down the surge of emotion that brought on, Tony quietly replied, “Yeah, I know. I’m glad to be here, too.”

Neither one had to voice the fact that it was only by sheer luck Tony was here at all. That infinity gauntlet had nearly sucked the life out of him, and in that moment when Pepper had nearly crawled across the battlefield to find him, she’d been so, so scared that she’d already lost him. Truth be told, Tony _had_ nearly died. He’d clung to life for a few days in hospital, picturing his wife and daughter’s faces to hold on just a little bit longer, and miraculously emerged from his unstable condition with an atrophied arm and a lot of renewed trauma.

Pepper had helped immensely with the latter. Tony didn’t know how he’d handle his flashbacks and panic attacks without her patience and unwavering support. He didn’t have to keep up the detached, tough guy act around her—though he sometimes did so out of habit and a wish to impress her—and instead he could expose his inner vulnerabilities.

_“BOO!”_

Speaking of panic attacks, Morgan nearly inflicted her father with a mild one when she snuck up beside him and leapt over the empty armrest. Tony caught his breath, exaggerating his fear by slapping a hand to chest and making a silly, startled expression in his daughter’s direction.

“Where’d you learn to sneak like that?” Tony asked, making a show of taking deep breaths as he hauled Morgan into the chair beside him.

“Auntie Nat,” Morgan replied, grinning proudly.

Pepper chuckled warmly, scooching nearer to gently ruffle her daughter’s hair. “Of course it was your Aunt Natasha. You’d make a great spy like her, you know.”

“Don’t go giving her any ideas now,” Tony warned, even as Morgan babbled with childish laughter.

Still…spy or not, Tony wouldn’t trade his position for anything else in the world. He was here, alive, safe, and near the two people he loved most in the world. If that wasn’t the way to spend Christmas, what was?

_Thus ends the seventeenth day of Christmas._


End file.
